thermoblock machines generally haven't been very good, nor have they held up over time. That said, the CC1 seemed to be a real "game changer," as they say, but then hit some bumps in the road. Several vendors here in the States stopped selling it due to problems they were reporting, and Crossland is (apparently) making some changes to the machine. In theory, a thermoblock should work fine -- I'm just not sure it has . . . yet.

The Quickmill Silvano has been out since 2010? It has been upgraded once to put more power into steaming. There don't seem to be any issues with the thermoblock other than the initial weak steaming.

The Crossland CC1 has been out since early 2011 and has gone through .5 of an upgrade to resolve issues with the diffuser block to retain more heat and has seen the addition of electronic filters to block electromagnetic interference. There is not an avalanche of complaints about failing thermoblocks.

I have seen a number of positive posts from users after 1 year. So, how long do they have to "hold up" before these machines are considered main stream?

EDIT: To be clear, I am thinking of machines that use a thermoblock only for steam.

I think that for a noncritical app like steam, if properly designed a thermo block will be fine but even the linked "coil" woont work well for brewing. I have two brand new Expobart thermo block machines. One I I took all he good parts out of to rebuild a Sylvia with. The other is sitting, waiting, to be offloaded to someone I am not very fond of. YMMV!

In real life, my name isWayne P.Anything I post is personal opinion and is only worth as much as anyone else's personal opinion. YMMV!

It seems like you could use a thermoblock for both. Kind of like the difference between a hot water heater and a tankless water heater in your house. Brewing and steaming are just a matter of temperature.

Some of the advantages I could see for a thermoblock:

- More energy efficient (don't have to keep a big tank of water warm)- Can't run out of heated water (assuming you have enough water supply)- Smaller size

Seems like precise temp control might be harder, as well as scaling issues.

It seems like you could use a thermoblock for both. Kind of like the difference between a hot water heater and a tankless water heater in your house. Brewing and steaming are just a matter of temperature.

Some of the advantages I could see for a thermoblock:

- More energy efficient (don't have to keep a big tank of water warm)- Can't run out of heated water (assuming you have enough water supply)- Smaller size

Seems like precise temp control might be harder, as well as scaling issues.

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